Using Social Design to Build Safer and Inclusive Gaming Communities With Carl Kwoh

Carl Kwoh is the Co-founder and CEO of Jam & Tea Studios, a new multiplayer game startup focused on building player connections. He's experienced in tabletop, web, mobile, PC, and console games. Before Jam & Tea, Carl developed the product management discipline at Phoenix Lab as the VP of Products. In 2017, he founded Ghostly Bear Games after spending six years as Riot Games' Head of Talent Operations and Systems. Carl is deeply passionate about social design in games, fostering team dynamics, and elevating disenfranchised voices within the gaming industry. In this episode… Social design aims to solve complex social issues, such as equity, diversity, and inclusivity. How can video game designers use this theory to impact design and build community? As the term suggests, social design is a creative concept to foster inclusive communities. Seasoned industry leader Carl Kwoh explains that loneliness is prevalent in gaming because of the lack of social connections. When players are unaware that they are competing against an actual person, they can accidentally dehumanize the other players, which makes the gaming community unsafe. Carl compares gaming to after-school sports leagues, where teams work together to achieve a common goal. When developers design games where players work together and have ways of identifying each other, it builds a sense of trust, belonging, and community.  Join Lizzie Mintus for an episode of the Here's Waldo Podcast as she welcomes Carl Kwoh, Co-founder and CEO of Jam & Tea Studios, for a conversation about social design in video game development. Carl discusses his career trajectory in the gaming industry, video games' impact on community building, and his passion for building leaders and community within Jam & Tea Studios.